The National Air and Space Museum commemorates the history of flight and educates and inspires people through its collections, exhibitions, research, and programs related to aviation, space flight, and planetary studies.

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Satellite, Vanguard, Lyman Alpha

This is an instrumented full-scale replica of the Vanguard Lyman Alpha satellite, also called SLV-1. It was designed to provide data on solar radiation in the 1100-1300 Angstrom region, known as the Lyman alpha band. The satellite was launched on May 27, 1958 but failed to go into orbit due to malfunction of the launch rocket. The replica was manufactured at the Naval Research Laboratory and may have been a flight spare. It was refurbished by technicians at the Goddard Space Flight Center prior to its transfer to NASM from NASA in March 1975. It was on display at the Science Museum in London, England until 1988.

This is an instrumented full-scale replica of the Vanguard Lyman Alpha satellite, also called SLV-1. It was designed to provide data on solar radiation in the 1100-1300 Angstrom region, known as the Lyman alpha band. The satellite was launched on May 27, 1958 but failed to go into orbit due to malfunction of the launch rocket. The replica was manufactured at the Naval Research Laboratory and may have been a flight spare. It was refurbished by technicians at the Goddard Space Flight Center prior to its transfer to NASM from NASA in March 1975. It was on display at the Science Museum in London, England until 1988.